ON THIS DAY IN 1968, THE BEATLES TEMPORARILY LOST ONE OF THEIR MEMBERS

Ringo Starr felt frustrated with the bands efforts on The White Album, and decided to leave. He later claimed that he felt he wasn’t playing well enough and that he felt issues with the group. He first told John Lennon, claiming “I’m leaving the group because I’m not playing well and I feel unloved and out of it, and you three are really close.”

Apparently, Lennon had thought it was the other three members that were close, causing him to feel excluded, and when Ringo passed the message onto Paul McCartney, he reportedly thought the same. Ringo left for Sardinia with his family on vacation, borrowing Peter Seller’s yacht and enjoying some time on the water, around two weeks in total.

Meanwhile, the group had kept Ringo’s departure quiet for fear of a media frenzy, and in hopes he would return. When Ringo received a telegram on his holiday that read “You’re the best rock’n’roll drummer in the world. Come on home, we love you,” he packed his things and headed back to the studio, which he found the group had decorated with flowers for his return.